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Physical fitness is associated with anxiety levels in women with fibromyalgia: the al-Ándalus project

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Abstract

Purpose

To assess the independent associations of individual physical fitness components with anxiety in women with fibromyalgia and to test which physical fitness component shows the greatest association.

Methods

This population-based cross-sectional study included 439 women with fibromyalgia (age 52.2 ± 8.0 years). Anxiety symptoms were measured with the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the anxiety item of the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR). Physical fitness was assessed through the Senior Fitness Test battery and handgrip strength test.

Results

Overall, lower physical fitness was associated with higher anxiety levels (all, p < 0.05). The coefficients of the optimal regression model (stepwise selection method) between anxiety symptoms and physical fitness components adjusted for age, body fat percentage and anxiolytics intake showed that the back scratch test (b = −0.18), the chair sit-and-reach test (b = −0.12; p = 0.027) and the 6-min walk test (b = −0.02; p = 0.024) were independently and inversely associated with STAI. The back scratch test and the arm- curl test were associated with FIQR-anxiety (b = −0.05; p < 0.001 and b = −0.07; p = 0.021, respectively).

Conclusion

Physical fitness was inversely and consistently associated with anxiety in women with fibromyalgia, regardless of the fitness component evaluated. In particular, upper-body flexibility was an independent indicator of anxiety levels, followed by cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Spanish Ministries of Economy and Competitiveness (I + D + I DEP2010-15639; grant number: BES-2014-067612 and BES-2011-047133), and of Education, Culture and Sport (grant number: AP-2010-0963 and FPU/12-00963), and the Granada Research of Excellence Initiative on Biohealth (GREIB), Campus BioTic, University of Granada, Spain. VAA was also supported by the Andalucía Talent Hub Program launched by the Andalusian Knowledge Agency, co-funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (COFUND–Grant Agreement No. 291780) and the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Junta de Andalucía.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    S. Córdoba-Torrecilla, A. Soriano-Maldonado, F. Estévez-López, V. Segura-Jiménez, I. Álvarez-Gallardo & M. Delgado-Fernández

  2. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja s/n, Granada, 18071, Spain

    V. A. Aparicio

  3. VU University and EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    V. A. Aparicio

  4. Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    F. Estévez-López

  5. Department of Statistics and OR (Section of Biostatistics, School of Medicine), University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    P. Femia

Authors
  1. S. Córdoba-Torrecilla
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  2. V. A. Aparicio
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  3. A. Soriano-Maldonado
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  4. F. Estévez-López
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  5. V. Segura-Jiménez
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  6. I. Álvarez-Gallardo
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  7. P. Femia
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  8. M. Delgado-Fernández
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. A. Aparicio.

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Conflict of interests

None of the authors have any conflict of interests.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the “Hospital Virgen de las Nieves” (Granada, Spain) and were done in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

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Córdoba-Torrecilla, S., Aparicio, V.A., Soriano-Maldonado, A. et al. Physical fitness is associated with anxiety levels in women with fibromyalgia: the al-Ándalus project. Qual Life Res 25, 1053–1058 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1128-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1128-y

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